question, "Is the University Spirit' dying?" and stated: 'The trend of modern university life is to make us all specialists in some particular branch of a science. This is, perhaps, inevitable in such a world as ours to-day. But it is by no means ideal. If we must be specialists, let us also remain humans and permit ourselves to know a little bit about things outside what is to be our province. We must get to know other people as well as ourselves. Our academic life is highly specialized-but why should our social life be the same? 'Let us come out of our holes and corners. Let us get to know other people. Let us learn from others and make our own peculiar gift to the common stock of undergraduate life. If, however, we are not prepared to do this, then let us at least be honest and call ourselves first-rate teeth extractors, assiduous engine-wipers, and the like, but not ''varsity men.'" Another writer, in the same magazine, touches the same point: "Does the 'varsity stand for anything in the world beyond technical efficiency?" Obviously, then, teachers both in secondary and technical schools have some reason for assuming that the present method of admission to a university is not necessarily the best one, and to claim that their suggestions for its reform is not in the least intended to lessen cultural value"; indeed their suggestions would all be directed to heightening such value. No one would doubt that the university-the apex of our educational system-should be a fount of spiritual inspiration to the area it serves. But can it be so under present conditions ? Unbending parents, who plan the lives of their children along undeviating lines, do not find those children coming along with the confidence of affection for help and guidance. Teachers ask that conditions be altered so that they may fulfil educational ideals and not merely obey rigid rules. Students in technical schools need an alteration of conditions which demand the best they can give, but deny them the final gift because of circumstances very often completely outside their control. Certain it is that no branch of the teaching profession would ask for permission to enter their students by a “back door "; all that they ask is that the front door be wide enough to eliminate the necessity of a laborious (and sometimes absurd) crawling through upon the hands and knees. The advantages of the wider door would be mutual. The university would gain much by greater consultation with the teachers who have to prepare, fittingly, its future students. And, in the case of technical students, the university would gain by the infusion of older students who come direct from life's stern realities: these are they who, often, have known poverty; who have seen the practical application of the sciences they are studying and perhaps more importantly-have had a view of economic conditions. Again a closer and more sympathetic coordination between secondary and technical schools and universities would inevitably lead to a closer co-ordination of the whole educational system, since the university would not avoid a closer insight into the work of schools (of all grades) from which its future students will be drawn. The word "culture" has yet to be defined; it is, perhaps, one of our greatest sources of satisfaction to know that it is very unlikely that any satisfactory definition ever will be found. Well, how does a man become " at home in the world? How does he understand, how learn to sympathize? He has first to possess, as far as possible, an open mind; he has to realize that there are stranger things in heaven and earth," &c. The arts of understanding and sympathy can only be learned by refusal to be shut up within the walls of prejudice; by the saving gift of humour which gives awareness of the fact that the god with his head held proudly among the stars may yet have his feet in the mud; by ability to say there, but for the grace of God, goes... These are the qualities which teach a man to preserve that which is good in the traditions of his race; to hate the things which should be hated and to love the things which are worthy of love. But, it may be argued, all this is too wide and vague to be condensed into some form capable of being tested with a view to the selection of members of a university; it appears, on the surface, to argue a knowledge of morals and art and economics and politics which would be quite impossible of attainment by candidates for matriculation. But all these are but branches of the tree of knowledge, and it is neither necessary nor possible, at the outset, for pupils to know the details of every tiny outgrowth. " After all, with all our detailed knowledge of the differences and complexities of these outgrowths, the tree-trunk of knowledge remains more or less the same. It has been well said that "we are still in Plato's den"; for, fundamentally, Plato's problems are still ours. We are still trying to tell ourselves the meaning of goodness and pleasure" and "truth"; we still try to define "character" and to understand habit." We still follow the 'Ethics and Politics" of Aristotle when we agree that a statesman must first find out what is "good for a people, and then try to order the life of that people so that the good may accrue to them. If culture implies the fitting of men comfortably and harmoniously into the maze of life, who could ever be cultured if he did not reflect upon these time-long problems? Neither secondary nor technical students would be worthy candidates if they did no more than shut themselves up within the narrow walls of a few specialist subjects, without a knowledge of the effect of those subjects upon themselves and their fellows, and without some notion of the meaning of their own existence; in short, if they became not fountains, but cisterns. In these days of educational theory it may seem strange that these elements should have to be indicated. But how can insistence on them be avoided when evidence is forthcoming, on the one hand, to show that the necessity of preparing, in exact and rigid form, too great a number of subjects is not only a hardship to the pupil but is deleterious to the proper development of school life, and-most heinous of all-is preventing teachers from slowly linking up subjects with a view to giving the first acquaintance with the great unity of knowledge; while, on the other hand, pupils are barred from the university's final gift because they have not reached the prescribed standard in subjects carelessly regarded as cultural, but often quite technical in form and content. It is not proposed here to sketch out what teachers consider might be substituted for the existing conditions of matriculation, though their respective associations would, if consulted, be prepared to give valuable advice towards that end. The first essential is to indicate the uneducational operation of the present system and to draw attention to the fact that even the universities themselves may be tending to systems not compatible with their real function. Another expression of opinion just received: 'Have just introduced Book I, and both staff and scholars are -PHILIPS' PRACTICAL COURSE of ENGLISH COMPOSITION By W. J. GLOVER FOR MIDDLE AND UPPER FORMS OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS. Consisting of Books IV and V of the New English Books, with the addition of advanced matter to meet the needs of Higher Education. In Two Books. Crown 8vo size. Cloth. Book I. 1s. 6d. Book II. 1s. 9d. GEORGE PHILIP & SON, LTD., 32 FLEET STREET, LONDON, E.C. 4 11 and 29 Sicilian Avenue, Southampton Row, London, W.C. 1. Top of Kingsway. In Centre of London. Corner of Bloomsbury Square. ELECTRICIANS, OPTICIANS, MECHANICIANS. OPTICAL DEPARTMENT, No. 11. Latest Scientific Arrangements. Finest and most approved orm of I The Training of Teachers By V. T. SAUNDERS, Uppingham Quamvis enim melius sit bene facere quam nosse prius tamen est nosse quam facere.-CHARLEMAGNE. T has recently been said that schoolmastering is casual labour for the middle classes. There can be no doubt that the feeling which prompted this remark arose from the knowledge that at present schoolmasters train themselves to teach at the intellectual expense of the boys on whom they practise. This is a state of affairs which would be ludicrous if it were not fraught with such danger to the future generation. We do not entrust the making of our clothes to a man who is teaching himself tailoring, nor do we entrust our bodies to the care of a self-taught, or rather self-teaching, medical man; we prefer the expert tailor who has served an apprenticeship at his trade, and the doctor who has, after taking a degree in medicine, served some time at a post in a hospital, where he has learnt from the experience of others how to apply his knowledge to the affairs of life. It is unnecessary to multiply instances of the training which men of arts and crafts receive before they operate upon their fellows. When we turn to the case of those who are to teach in secondary schools, we find that a young man comes straight from a university lecture-room to take command in a school class-room. During his residence at his university he has amassed a certain amount of knowledge of his subject, and maybe he has taken a diploma in education; he has probably attended a few pattern lessons given by a professor of education at a school near by; with this equipment he is set to take in hand some part of the educating of some of the boys at his school. Henceforth he is his own master; his class-room is his castle, but it is also his prison. The reason given for this method of procedure is that men find out for themselves how to manage a class. In all probability they do, but after how long, at what cost, and what of the boys who come under their influence during the period when they are finding out? We are most of us happier in following out our own ideas, even though they give results which do not rise to our expectations, than we are in bringing to a successful conclusion the working out of the ideas of others. This universal conviction of our own ability, infallibly to detect and follow to its end the path to light, may be permitted to rule our actions as long as the results, if they fall below our hopes, cannot in any way have a detrimental effect upon others; but when, as in teaching, the results of an error of judgment or action operate more grievously upon the innocent than upon the guilty, it is not justifiable on any grounds to allow the amateur to follow entirely his own whims. The world is beginning to awake to the psychological effects of events and influences, and the opinion is gaining ground that a learner, in his first steps, must be guided in such a way that he makes no mistakes. This procedure has the effect of eliminating mental confusion. The point is most readily illustrated by the spelling example. Suppose a boy spells a word wrongly and has it corrected; the next time he wishes to write this word he has two mental pictures of it, his original one and the correction, and because the former is often more deeply imprinted upon his mind than the latter, he often spells the word incorrectly again. This repetition of the error is due to the confusion caused by attempting to imprint a correction upon a fairly deeply seated, but erroneous, impression; clearly such states of confusion are avoided if such guidance is afforded to the learner that no error becomes deeply seated. So with the young teacher if, in his process of finding his way, he satisfies himself with methods and styles which are not the best, his conversion to better things at a later date, even if that is possible at all, is liable to bring confusion to his mind and is not likely to be complete. An inept teacher has a grave effect upon the boys in his class. In the first place, they very quickly discover his lack of ability and become contemptuous of him, thereby forming a barrier to any progress if and when the teacher becomes proficient; for no teacher is even moderately successful unless there is a mutual feeling of respect and confidence between him and his class. In the second place, boys taught by an inefficient teacher grow up in an atmosphere of intellectual chaos, and so the consciousness gains ground in them that chaotic processes are to be tolerated, and indeed are the order of things. There is much attention paid at the present time to the cry of equal opportunities for all, but opportunities are not equal when one boy comes under the influence of a man versed in the craft of preparing boys for life, and another is spending much of his time in personal contact with one who is stumbling in educational darkness, even though he may be struggling towards light. One generation has no right to penalize part of the next in this way. It would be tolerable to permit such a state of affairs if there were no better way, but there is: there are men who have found out already how to handle a class, men who have devoted twenty years or more to teaching and training boys; they have made their mistakes, but in their zeal to do right they have found better ways. The young teacher can be apprenticed to all the men of long service in his school. If a young teacher at the beginning of his apprenticeship is given a light time-table of actual teaching, but also a fixed number of periods to attend in other rooms where the journeymen of the craft are working, a great step forward is made. It is this interlinking of practising and learning which needs to be brought into operation, this balancing of what is known in everyday affairs as the practical and the theoretical. The pitfalls and difficulties of the teacher are not discerned until they are operative; he is usually trapped in an ambush, and seldom is he faced by an enemy in full battle array. The novice must teach a little and meet his difficulties; he should then do his visiting periods, and he will see the elders handling the same problems in the light of their experience; he will begin to learn to teach in the school as it is, and not in a university lectureroom where the task is made easy by the absence of the main factor of the case; he will hear the different methods of presenting the subjects; he will gather how much strong meat can be assimilated by boys in a period, and will learn to detect mental fatigue; he will see the relative values of chalk and talk; he will see the occurrences of backslidings and undesirable habits and tendencies, and the suitable correctives for each; he will watch the elder, versed in the detection of the first signs of misbehaviour, check it at its inception, thereby avoiding its fruition and the consequent punishment; the cadet will have the opportunity of benefiting by the experience of others, and so he will not need to practise the errors of his forefathers and only arrive at a state of enlightenment by the painful path of his own experience. Those who are to educate the future citizens must learn their craft. The effect of the apprenticeship on the teacher will be far-reaching. It will at once broaden his views by the fact that he will hear subjects other than his own being taught ; the value of this cannot be over-estimated. Some years ago a number of reports were published by committees which had been appointed separately to inquire into the state of the teaching of modern languages, classics, English, and natural science in secondary schools. In each of these reports it was stated that not enough time was allotted to the particular subject in question; the con (Continued on page 22) this volume are arranged in order of difficulty. 96 pages. Cloth, 10d. In Paper, 8d. GATEWAYS TO BOOKLAND Books 3 to 6. Four books of Literature for pupils of 10 to 16. These books of distinction by the charm and quality, both of content and production, reveal the beauty of literature. There are 16 pages of Self-Study Questions included in each. An Opinion: "Nowhere have I seen a wider range or greater diversity in matter and style." Book 3. Winged Flights into Storyland, 2s. 4d. Book 4. Vistas of Romance, 2s. 6d. Book 5. Within the Gates, 25. gd. Book 6. In King's Gardens, 3s. SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES. All the Greater Plays unabridged but carefully edited for school use. 2, 6, Twelfth Night. 7, Macbeth. 8, Hamlet. 9, Coriolanus. 10, Richard II. 11, King Henry V. Nos. 1 to 7. Cloth, 10d. Nos. 8 to 11. Cloth, Is. A MODERN SCHOOL GEO METRY. By A. MACGREGOR, M.A. A COMPANION POETS course following the New Sequence approved by the I.A.A.M., A.A.M., and Education Dept. By means of simple Research Exercises the discovery of each geometrical truth is made before the formal truth of the Theorem is reached. Specially suitable for schools using the "Dalton or other "Individual teaching methods. Parts 1 and 2 are suitable for the Earlier Forms. Part 1. Cloth boards, 1s. 9d. Part 2. 25. In One Volume, 3s. 6d. PRACTICAL MATHEMATICS AND DRAWING. By J. L. WOOD. A thoroughly practical text-book covering a TwoYears' Course. Obviates the need for separate text-books, and is a comprehensive modern treatment of the subject calculated to greatly reduce the work of the teacher. Explanations, Examples, and over 500 Exercises with 140 Diagrams are given. Cloth boards, Is. 9d. With Answers, 2s. MCDOUGALL'S EDUC. CO. LTD. 8 FARRINGDON. AVENUE, LONDON, E.C. 4 KEATS Nearly Ready CORIOLANUS Edited by M. ROY RIDLEY, M.A., Prospectus on application First Two Volumes TENNYSON In Preparation Edited by S. S. SOPWITH, M.A., English Master at Shrewsbury School. A companion to the study of the work and life of the great poets, containing selections from their poetry with a commentary on each, a short critical biography, and a note on the reading of poetry. Cloth Limp, 1s. 4d. Cloth Boards, 1s. 8d. Cloth Limp, 2s. 3d. Cloth Boards, 2s. 9d. Probable Price, 3s. 6d. clusion to be drawn is that more time is required in school. As it is impossible for boys to spend more time in the class-room than they do at present, it becomes a question for teachers to decide on the portions of the time available to be allotted to the various subjects, and this decision is best made by those who have seen and understood something of the teaching of them all. There is another point, too, which these reports bring out. Our teaching is at present performed in watertight compartments, to the detriment of each and every subject and of the whole scheme. It is only when teachers have seen how others work, what they teach, and how they do it, that complete co-ordination can be attained. It might be argued that when one man is brought into such contact with the habits and tendencies as is herein suggested, there is a danger of restricting the growth of the individual and also of making a reactionary body of teachers, satisfied with the achievements of the past and bound by tradition. In the present case this argument cannot be maintained. The apprentice should be given the opportunity of hearing a number of men teaching, and if he attends in a constructively critical frame of mind he will draw the best from each one, afterwards moulding it for his own purpose. The young teacher of the future is required to be of a discriminating mind; he must be able to exercise sound judgment in the face of facts for himself, in order that he may be able to inculcate that habit in all who come under his educating influence, for this is a habit required of all mankind. The present generation of teachers has found a rightish way of performing their work, and it is in the interests of the boys of the nation that new teachers should be enabled to benefit by their experience, to begin where they are about to leave off. In this way the teacher will acquire his professional technique after the manner which has been practised in all arts and crafts for all ages; he The The exercises and the principles introduced therein are so carefully graded in point of difficulty that the student is trained to work the most difficult set of transactions without being appalled at any stage of his study. No exercise is too long or too complicated to be completed between each lesson. Questions will be found very useful for testing the student's knowledge at each stage of his work. Examination Papers of the Royal Society of Arts, the College of Preceptors, the Oxford and Cambridge Locals, and the L.C.C. are included. 400,000 copies sold. LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO., LTD. will learn his work, not at the feet of the university professor of the science of education, but by daily contact with those who have trod the path before him and are treading it still. In following up this argument for apprentice teachers, it may appear that the training given in university courses on education has been derided. This is far from being the case, for the future teacher must read the science of education in the same way as a medical student reads biology, and a law student law; but this branch of the training of teachers has, for some time, been receiving attention. The new teacher must come to his task with a mind prepared to hear and sift all, able eventually to crystallize his own ideas and work them out. In this way the practice of education will become an organic process of continuous growth, each generation beginning where its predecessor is leaving off, and an army of teachers will be brought into existence embodying the accumulated experience of the past, subjected at each successive handing on to a searching criticism, pruning, and amplification by the young apprentices. Right action is better than knowledge, but in order to do what is right we must know what is right.” THE STUDENT'S BUSINESS METHODS Theory and Practice of Commerce and Commercial Correspondence. By ARTHUR FIELDHOUSE, Accountant, 66 Trinity Street, Huddersfield, Yorks, who will forward Specimen Pages and Index on receipt of Post Card addressed to P.O. Box A 27, Huddersfield. Eleventh Edition. 416 Pages. 3/6. 80 TEST and EXAMINATION PAPERS, containing 1,300 QUESTIONS. This is the only practical up-to-date book on Commercial Correspondence and the Theory and Practice of Commerce, and is characterized by the same qualities that have made the author's other text-books so popular. The lessons are well graduated and the teacher is saved the drudgery of preparing Test Papers, one of which follows every chapter, in addition to numerous Examination Papers. PRACTICAL work is provided in the Series of Business Transactions included in some of the Test Papers. It is the only Complete Guide, covering all the Public Examinations. Small-priced books may be had on the subject, but as they do not cover the Syllabuses they are dear at a gift. Efficiency should be the first consideration. It is an excellent Handbook for the Junior in the Office. 100,000 copies sold. LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO., LTD. |